Bette Midler FTW: Hey Teenagers, Read This

[Tommymac]

Link to tweet

I love Bette.

[SheltieLover]

1. I read the 1st 5 H. Potter books in as many days

When I read that "the church" wanted them banned.

I knew they had to be superb, & they were.

to Divine Ms. M!

[Tommymac]

4. She is divine. We are so lucky to have her.

[SheltieLover]

11. Yes, she is!

And we sure are!

[AllaN01Bear]

20. i read the entire series . my priest encuraged me.

[SheltieLover]

43. I enjoyed the series immensely

Hope you did, too!

[AllaN01Bear]

44. did . read one in several hours or sometimes a day. couldnt put them down.

[SheltieLover]

45. Same here!

[niyad]

40. When the first Harry Potter books came out, there was an idiot pastor in

Alamogordo, NM, who announced a burning of those satanic, evil books. I happened to know the idiot, so it did not surprise me. I called him, and said that, on behalf of the author, I wanted to thank him. I explained that, first, the publicity of this stunt would increase sales. And second, in order to have the books to burn, one would actually have to purchase them. Or shoplift, which is a crime. In any case, he was giving the author free publicity, which was wonderful.

[SheltieLover]

42. Hahaha

Good for you!

[Joinfortmill]

2. She rocks.

[Tommymac]

6. Big Time.

[ananda]

3. I've read all those books. So good.

I never had a banned book list growing up though.

[Tommymac]

5. Me too. I read most of them before I was 12.

They have shaped who I am today.

Progressive, proud, assertive.

[bullwinkle428]

17. DAMN! I was thinking I was doing okay having read 6 of them.

[BlackSkimmer]

7. K and r.

[malaise]

8. K & R

For truth and sound advice

[MustLoveBeagles]

9. K&R

[Coventina]

10. I can't recommend "Gone with the Wind"

Terrible book.

Hated the "heroine."

Found most of it either boring or offensive.

[Tommymac]

12. I didn't like a lot of these either ... but they still need to be read, not burned

My personal opinion is not relevant here.

Some of these were written so they are MEANT to offend.

Everyone has the right to read these for themselves - Conservative Witch Hunters be damned.

[Coventina]

24. I'm against censorship as well. 100%

I would only say that GWTW celebrates white supremacy, misogyny, and really doesn't tell a story worth the reader's attention.

But, that's only one reader's opinion.

Millions apparently love it.

[treestar]

31. How does it "celebrate" it?

Revealing something awful does not equal celebrating it.

[MotorCityBeard]

26. Always like hearing other's opinions. I loved "Gone With the Wind".

Both the book and movie.

I originally had to read it as a senior in high school. While we were already assigned to do a 10 page term paper, we also had to read a 1000+ page book. I'm a reader, but was surprised how easy and enjoyable it was to read the book. I felt there was lots wrong with it (KKK, the portrayal of blacks, Scarlett spends the whole book pining after Mr. Wrong when she already had Mr. Right, etc) but try to keep in mind it's a product of it's time and doesn't really mesh with modern times. Even with the depressing ending, I always thought Scarlett was such a strong character that she would have no problem getting Rhett back.

Still don't think ANY book needs to be banned. I always use "American Psycho" as an example, there was a huge backlash against that when it was released. Had to read it for myself, it is one disturbing book that I would not recommend to anyone. I still don't think it should be banned, though.

[Coventina]

27. Scarlett may have been strong, but vomiting because of a n*****y smell by the slave quarters

was something I just couldn't get over.

Really? You're keeping enslaved people and literally vomit over their smell?

The South was clearly treated too well after the Civil War, was what I got out of that book.

[treestar]

32. That is showing how she was

not saying it was acceptable as a way to be. Scarlett is not meant to be someone we would strive to emulate. She's not presented that way.

[Demobrat]

50. I read it in four days when I was ten years old.

Before that I didn’t know there had ever been a civil war, or that slavery had ever existed. I thought the rich white people got what they deserved.

[ShazzieB]

28. I read GWTW over 50 years ago.

Found the story engrossing and even entertaining, but the racism is absolutely off the charts extreme. Definitely the most blatantly and unapologetically racist piece of fiction I've ever read.

The whole book is a hymn of praise to the antebellum south, how "wonderful" it supposedly was, and how "sad" it is that it's now "gone with the wind." *gag* Enslavers are portrayed as kindly and caring towards the childlike enslaved people in their care, and the enslaved people are either "good" (loyal and grateful servants who stay to serve their white enslavers after the Civil War) or "bad" (ingrates who take off the first chance they get and later become criminals that the KKK is formed to deal with). Yes, there is a love story, but it's all played out against the above backdrop, with white southerners portrayed as the hapless victims of evil Yankees who invade the south and mistreat the white southerners for absolutely no good reason, because everything was just fine the way it was and those damned Yankees should have just minded their own business and left the south alone.

I have no doubt Margaret Mitchell believed what she was writing. She was born in 1900 and grew up listening to the stories of older relatives who had lived through the Civil War and reconstruction. Unfortunately she absorbed a very one-sided version of what happened during those years, along with a white supremacist outlook that insisted black people, as well as whites, were perfectly happy under slavery. That outlook is reflected throughout the book.

Does that mean I think no one should read GWTW? No. Censorship is not something I can get behind. I do, however, feel that the book is not one that I would encourage (pre high school aged) kids to read. The racism in it is so extreme that the book is most suitable for minds that are mature enough to be able to see hiw wrong it is, imo.

Censor the book? Absolutely not. Promote it to kids as something they should go out of their way to read? Not really enthused about that, sorry.

[treestar]

33. people were racist in that time

would you have that not revealed? No one who reads it thinks things should be like that again as a result. A lot of Southerners acted like victims, which was true, but it doesn't mean we sympathize with them.

"The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" has some lamenting about how awful it was for them and how bad the Yankees are. Yet one can listen to it and think they were unreasonable about that. Or not feel that sorry for them. We should not bury the fact they thought like that or it could come up again.

[Farmer-Rick]

36. Censor the book? Absolutely not

Did you not read that part of what Shazzie wrote? That makes it perfectly clear.

GWTW is a terrible book and poorly written. But no one is advocating banning it.

[Marcuse]

41. The naive motivations of the songwriter, Robbie Robertson:

Tennessee Williams just appealed to me, the flavour of writing, the titles of the things, Sweet Bird of Youth, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof - this catches my attention, partially because I had gone to the South from Canada, really ying and yang, really a big extreme, so it hit me much harder than somebody who had gone from Washington, DC down to South Carolina - I went from Toronto to the Mississippi Delta, and … I liked the way people talked, I liked the way they moved. I liked being in a place that had rhythm in the air. I thought 'No wonder they invented rock 'n' roll here. Everything sounds like music. … and I got to come into this world, a cold outsider - cold literally from Canada … and because I didn't take it for granted, it made me write something like The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down .These old men would say , 'Yeah, but never mind Robbie. One of these days the South is going to rise again.' I didn't take it as a joke. I thought it was really touching, that these people lived this world from the standpoint of a rocking chair.'
[link:http://theband.hiof.no/articles/dixie_viney.html|

[Farmer-Rick]

34. GWTW reads like a bad historic romance

What my Mom would call a bodice ripper.

You would hardly know what the cause of the civil war was after you read it. The writing reminds me of the badly written 50 Shades of Gray.

But I wouldn't ban it. It servs as a bad example if nothing else. Reading a book will never hurt you no matter what is in it.

[EYESORE 9001]

39. I had a similar reaction to seeing GWTW among those books

Even as a middle-schooler, I knew it was propagandist neoconfederate dreck.

[Cha]

13. Rt TY Find out why they

want to Dictate your reading choices.

[twodogsbarking]

14. Good advice for teenagers or anyone who ever was one.

[PennyC]

15. Bette the Divine

I've met her several times (at publicity events) and what's so cool is that she seemed like a head librarian or the head of a university's English department. Very serious and she really listened.

[milestogo]

16. Of Mice and Men?

Have the banners even read these books?

[GB_RN]

18. Of Course It's On Their List!

We can't show how badly we treated our own people during the Great Depression, donchaknow! Besides, there's the violence at the end where George shoots Lennie in the back of the head. Can't have kids reading about that!

We also can't have them playing violent video games! Grand Theft Auto will turn the kids into thugs and gangsters. And, we can't have the kids watching Looney Toons, either! They might try to blow each other up with dynamite or shoot each other in the face (a la Bugs, Daffy & Elmer Fudd).

BUT! We can let the kids watch all kinds of horror movies and action movies with guns and killings and other violence! Especially war movies. War movies are great! Anything that glorifies the military is awesome!!* (snark, by the way)

Ahh, the hypocrisy of the Radical Reichwing. It's enough to make you 🤢🤮

*Just for the record, I don't have a problem with the US Military, our service members or our veterans: It's an honorable way to serve the country and an honorable career. My grandfather was a B-25 pilot in WWII and continued to serve in the USAF-Reserves after the war, and several other great uncles served during and after the war in other branches. So, I have a healthy respect for our service members. My problem is with fetishizing the military like the GOPQ does.

[FuzzyRabbit]

19. No. They don't (or can't) read.

[Bayard]

21. This

Some of these were required reading when I was in high school--nearly 50 years ago! And it was a conservative, redneck school.

I did have a few progressive teachers though, like the one who taught, "Greek and Elizabethan Drama and Derivatives". Forgot her name long ago, but never the name of the class!

[AllaN01Bear]

22. friend of mine read death of a salesman in college . wrote an essay on it . and the teacher agreed

said that the salesman's associates . his family and he was greedy. she got an a in the course .

[Cuthbert Allgood]

46. Taught that play for a lot of years. I didn't read the paper, but it's not that simple.

It's clearly an indictment on the American Dream and how we are all reduced to the money we have or the money we can produce. Willy was beaten down by the sales industry and, in the end when he was losing his mind, he was convinced that his worth to the world was only what his life insurance policy limit was.

And his wife was not greedy. She was ridiculously supportive and just wanted to spend time with Willy and didn't care about having the best of things like Willy wanted. Hap was greedy to the extent that he bought the American Dream hook, line, and sinker. Biff was the one that rejected the American Dream and was not greedy at all. Hell, he wanted to just go live off the land and enjoy life.

[underpants]

23. 👍

[Jilly_in_VA]

25. God grant her many years!

I hope she lives at least as long as Betty White!

[Whatthe_Firetruck]

29. They have to... /snark

...look at those books. Who are the protagonists, portrayed as if they are human beings worthy of sympathy? Who are the baddies, & what is considered evil? Who wins or loses if the story is told?

If the protagonist is black, jewish, female, poor, or working class, then those who look down on them will want the books not to be seen. If the story reveals the unvarnished truth about the powers that be (white, male, or wealthy), well that should just be suppressed.

Funny that doesn't work in a world of online access.

[VWolf]

30. James and the Giant Peach? Really?

That one surprised me

[Act_of_Reparation]

35. Banned in Wisconsin in 1986...

...because religious groups felt a scene where a spider licks her lips was too sexual.

Pretty incredible.

[VWolf]

38. Not the onion???? OMG n/t

[Lonestarblue]

37. I've read most of these books, but I have to confess that I could not finish Ulysses.

I much prefer Joyce’s shorter stories in The Dubliners. A book I would add to this list is Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I’m sure Republicans would hate it because of its portrayal of human corruption. As Trump supporters, they obviously like corruption and moral degeneracy.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

47. Ulysses is my favorite book and I re-read it every summer.

But I get it isn't for everyone. Early 20th century stream of consciousness writing is bonkers at times.

Heart of Darkness is a hell of a ride.

[FakeNoose]

48. LOL don't give them any ideas about Heart of Darkness

Let them figure out for themselves which books to ban.

I couldn't finish Ulysses either but it wasn't because of Joyce's subject matter. It was the stream-of-consciousness writing style where one long sentence would run for 3 or 4 pages. I found it distracting and hard to follow.

However The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I'm pretty sure it was banned because of the "n" word. Maybe teachers had difficulty with it, or were embarrassed to use the "n" word in their classrooms? I don't know. Luckily it's been unbanned for a long time now.

[maxsolomon]

49. It's just a retweet.

it cites "Jeff Zentner" at the bottom of the graphic. he's an author.

a lot of those books were banned decades ago. I can't imagine many schools are teaching "the joy of sex" (although there's few teenagers that wouldn't read it if they could find a copy). kind of a weird inclusion.

[IronLionZion]

51. That's what I did as a teenager

and I've read most of the books in the photo. Libraries are wonderful places.

[murielm99]

52. I've read all but one of those.

I made a point of seeing to it that all the banned books were present in our local library's collection.